Research overview

My research interests centre on Renaissance literary criticism, in particular on the exegetical procedures exercised on Dante's Commedia in the sixteenth century, and on the theoretical debates regarding literary writing and the codification of linguistic and literary models in this period. Many of my current and future projects relate to these concerns, focusing upon issues of interpretation through the analysis of the intellectual factors and cultural circumstances which govern the perception and circulation of literary texts. I am also interested in the influence of the Reformation on the development of sixteenth century Italian culture and literature, and in particular in the application of interpretative approaches and practices informed by Reformed scriptural exegesis.

In collaboration with Robert Wilson, in 2009 I started the Lectura Dantis Andreapolitana. This is a very exciting and ambitious project which brings experts in Dante from all over the UK and abroad to St Andrews to deliver lectures on individual cantos of the Comedy which are open to the public. For more information visit:http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/lectura/